Cooler and separator



w. 1 R. EMMET COOLER AND SEPARATOR Filed Dec. 26. 1922 l lll April 2s,1925.

Fig/.1.

nl Il! nvenfor Wil/@wn L. R.E'J11/J11/ef His Attorney,

'Patented Apr. 28,' 11925.

UNITED STATES Vlfarelar OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. fR. EMMET, O'lli SC1`.[}E11\TECT ADY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0GENERAL ELEC- I TRQIG COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

COOLER'AND SEPARATOR.

Application filed December 26, 192.2. Serial No. 609,162.

To all whom t may concern:

' Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. R. EM-

4 MET, a citizen of the'United Statesgfresidingat Schenectady, in thecounty of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements vin Coolersand Separatore, of -which the fol-Alowing vis `a speciication. The present invention relates tov anaprparatus for cooling a mixture of c ondensible and non-condensiblevapors and separating the condensate formed from the non-condensiblevapors.

, An application of my invention is 1n connection with mercury turbinesystems wherein in connection vwith the shaft packingsofthe'turbinethere is some leakage of mercury vapor which it is desired tocondense and save. This mercury vapor is taken from the packing in theform ofl a mixture of the vapors with air Vor other non-condensible gas,`there being ofcourse, some liquid particles of mercury, :and the objectof my 1nvention 4is to provide a combined coolerand separator. whichwill-function to' cool the 'mixture so as to condense the vaporsandseparate the condensate from the air orfj other gas.

-4 For a consideration of what'I believe to be noveland my invention,attention is directed to the vaccompanying' description and the claimsappended thereto.

In the drawing, v4Fig. 1 1s a longitudinal Vsectional view `of a coolerand separator mbodying my invention, and Fig. 2 a perspectiveview' ofcertain parte..`

Referring to the drawing, 5 lndicates a lcylindrical casingprovided witha ilange' 6 atl its upper end to which is 'fasteneda head 7 by bo ts'8.Casing '5 is'made of relatively thin vmaterial and fiangeu which is muchterminates short ,of thev top thicker sformcd advantageously by welding`4a collar to the end of the casing. 'Suit- :ab y

fastened to head 7 and dependlngxfrom it 1s an inner cylinder 9 whichtermlnates Short-of the bottom of casing 5. Ihelower end of casing 5 isclosed by a head 10 which may be-welded to the casin as indicated vat1&1.- Supported on head 10 y suitable spacing blocks 12 is anintermediate cylinder 13 `w ich is closed at its lower end by ,a headli.The upper end of cylinder' 13 is open and There is thus formed in'casing a/centra'l chamber 1 5 surrounded by two .concentric mediuminletconduit 'conduit 37. 1 The apparatus may be of casing 5.

annular chambers 16 and 17. In ychamber -17 is a spiral deflecting strip18 which extends from the lower end of the chamber to the upper end. Incentral 'chamber 15 are .a number of cone-shaped screens 19 preferablymade lfrom cloth. Screens 19 are fastened between pairs of rings 20 attheir larger ends and to a central' post 21 -at their apices.` Rings 20'are carried byrods 22 which at their upper ends are fastened to head 7and at their lower ends to a spider 23. The rings are spaced bysleeves'24 on Projecting up through the, bottom of well -25 is a.discharge plpe 27;' the upper end of which terminates a suitabledistance above such bottom.. `Over the'end of pipe 27 lis van invertedcup 28 which is fastened to the side ofthe pipe and depen-ds to a pointwell below its top. Atthe central ortion of llead 14 is an opening 29 towhlch is connected a depending sleeve .30 which extends well down lintowell 25. This arrangement provides anannular passage lthrbugh.

which yannular chamber 17 is connected to well 25 and an annular passage32 through vwhich' annular' chamber 16 and centralA chamber -1 5'areconnected towell 25. lThe -inner'surface of head 10 is beveled to pro.'.vide a wall which Vslopes toward central opening 24". .At thelowerlend of'casing 5 is. an admission conduit 33' and at the centeryofhead'? is a' discharge con-duit 34..

Surrounding casing 5. is a wall 35. which forms a cooling jacket havinga cooling 36 and a discharge suitable manner. In the present instance itis shown as being fixed to .angle irons 38 carried by posts 89.

j In `operation, the vapor mixture, forexample; vair and mercury vapor,enters through conduit 3 3 and flows upwardly through annular chamber 17beingdirected in a spiralcourse around casing 5 by deiecting strip 18.At the same time cooling medium Hows in through conduit 36 throughsupported in any the cooling jacket and out through conduit 37.Ordinarily, water is used as thecooling l medium. The vapor lmixture iscooled in passing up through annular chamber 17, the deflectingstripser-vingto bring it into engagement with the cooled outer wall of thechamber and this Vefi'ectsthe condensation of the condensible vapors inthe mixture. The major. portion of the condensate will fall down on tohead and flow through open-- ing 24a into well 25. Some liquidparticles, however, will be carried along with the non-condensiblevapors which .vapors after reaching the top of chamber 17 are directeddown through annular chamber 16 and thence upwardly again throughchamber 15 to discharge conduit 34. In owing from chamber 16 to chamberl5 a considerable portion of any liquid particles will be deposited onhead 14 from which'the'y will run down through opening 29 and annularpassage 32 to well 25.l Any particles carried on into chamber 15 will becaught by. screens and iind their way down to well 25. Everyparticle ofcondensate is thus removed from the vapors and directed to well,

Discharge pipe 27 projects above the bottom of well 25 a distancesuiiicient to maintain a predetermined level of liquid in the Wellandcup 28 and sleeve 30 dip down into such liquid so as to form a liquidseal at the bottoml of casing 5.

-My invention has particular utility as a separator for mercury sincemercury is relatively expensive and it is important that every particlebe saved. By theI use of my invention the incoming vapor mixture isthoroughly cooled and the mercury or other condensate-'efficientlyseparated out. YAt the Y same time the apparatus is simple in strucbyLetters Patent of the United States, is

1. In an apparatus of thecharacter de.

scribed, the combination of an elon ated clsed casing, walls within thecasing orming a series of chambers, said chambers lying one within theother and extending longitudinally of the casing, alternate adjacentends of said chambers being in communicat1on W1th each other wherebysaid chambers are' connected 1n series, means formlng a spiral passagethrough the outermost chamberin a longitudinal direction, a plurality ofscreens within the innermost chamber, an

.inlet-conduit and an outlet conduit connectother longitudinally of thecasing, alternate adjacent ends of said chambers beinginlcommunicati'on` with each other whereby said chambers are connectedin series, means forming a spiral passage through the outerlmost chamberin a longitudinal direction, a

plurality of screens within the linnermost chamber in stacked spacedrelation to each other along the length of said chamber, an inletconduit connected with the outermost chamber at its lower end, an outletconduit connected with the innermost chamber at its upper end, andcooling means surrounding the casing.

3. In `an apparatus of the character described, the combination `of' anelon ated closed casing, walls within the casing orming a series ofsubstantially concentric chambers extending longitudinally ofthe'casing, alternate adjacent ends of said chambers being incommunication with each other whereby said chambers are connected inseries, means forming a spiral passage through the outermost chamberadjacent and along the wall of the casing, a plurality of screens withinthe innermost chamber in stacked spaced relation to each other along '4.In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a casinghaving a head vat each end, a wall depending from the upper head inspaced relation to +he,

casing wall, means forming a tortuous path in the space between saidwalls, a screen located inside said depending wall, an inlet conduitconnected to the space between said walls, an outlet conduit connectedto the head, a spiral defiecting strip between the outer wall andcasing, a well connected to the lower head, a liquidseal therein, a

' plurality of screens inside said inner wall,

an inlet conduit connected to the casing,

and an outlet connected to the central portion of the .upper head.

@In comblnation, a cylindrical casing,

heads at the upper and lower ends thereof, l04

s aced concentric walls in the casing, the inner of which is connectedto the upper head, a spiraldeflecting strip between 'the outer wall andcasing, a well connected to the .lower head, means within the wellforming a liquid seal between the interior of the casing and itsexterior, a plurality of screens within-the confines ofV said inner--wall, an inlet conduit connected to the casing adjacent its lower end,an outlet conydu1t connected to the upper head andterminating at itsinner end within the conlines of the inner wall, and cooling meanssurrounding said casing.

i 7'. In combination, an elongated v,casingl inthe outer chamber, aplurality of nested4 cone-shaped screens arranged in spaced elation toeach other within `the inner., chamber, an 4inlet conduit opening intothe outer chamber adjacent the lower head end of the casing, anoutletconduit leading from the inner chamber at the upper end of the casing, aw'ell at the bottom ofthecasing, a liquid seal in the well, and coolingmeans surrounding the casing.

`8. In combination, an' elongated cylindrical casings having upperandlower-,open

ends, hea forming closures for said ends, an inner chamber, anintermediate chamber and anv outer chamber within the casing jextendinglongitudinally thereof, a plurality 0f substantially concentric'wallsseparating 50 said chambers, each of saidwalls being coni.

nected with one head and terminating short of the other head,aspiraldeiiecting member 'in the outer chamber forming a spiral passagealongthe length o f said chamber, a

plurality of nested cone-shaped screens arranged in spaced relation toeach other within the inner chamber, an inlet conduit connected with theouter chamber at its lower end, an outlet conduit connected with theinner chamber at its `upper end,a well*l at the bottom of thecasing,means forming a liquid seal in the well between the outer and innerchambers andi between each of said chambers and the exterior of thecasmg,

a conduit for conducting overflow liquid from the well, and coolingmeans surrounding the casing;

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my .hand this 22ndv day ofDecember, 1922.

wrLLIAM L. n. EMMETL

